Video Editing Software Review:
CyberLink PowerDirector 4.0 (page 2)

The "Produce" function of PD4 is our favorite -- mostly because it's always the most cryptic part for beginners. PD4 has four huge buttons: Disk, File (in a number of formats such as DVD, VCD and SVCD), Streaming file, or Tape. Choosing one of these buttons takes you to a wizard, which helps you create your desired product. Friendly on-screen info shows you the relative size of the clip, as well as your currently available disk space. And for those not familiar with terms like DivX or SVCD, the help feature has easy to understand and useful definitions to help users pick the file format that's right for them.

PowerDirector has what it takes to get an ambitious amateur editing and producing digital video. It doesn't have the bells and whistles that would keep an advanced amateur happy for very long, but its lack of confusing features is often a boon. Instead of a bewildering array of custom filters, PD takes a guess at what's likely to be wrong with a video clip and makes a "magic" option that gives a good guess. People who just want to get something done will find it a welcome product.

ESD Price: $60
Trial Version Available: Yes (limited edition, 30 days)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP or 2000
Minimum CPU: Pentium III/600MHz or AMD Athlon 700MHz or faster
Minimum RAM: 128MB RAM
Minimum Hard Drive Space for Installation: 600 MB required minimum (note: 400 MB is for Smart Sound Quicktrack Library), 4GB for VCD/SVCD/MiniDVD production, 15GB required for DVD production
Capture Formats: live video, DV-AVI, DAT, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VOB, VRO, WMV, MOV, MOD, DivX, MP3, WAV, WMA, Audio CD, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF
Batch Capture: yes
Automatic Scene Detection: yes
User Interface: time line and storyboard
Number of Video Tracks: 1
Number of Audio Tracks: 2
Nesting Tracks: no
Audio/Video Level Envelopes: yes
Audio Scrub: yes
Keyframe Animation: no
Number of Video Transitions: 128
Number of Video Filters: 31
Background Rendering: no
Realtime Software Previews: yes
Optimized for Dual Processor/HyperThreading: yes
Third-party Plug-in Support: no
Encoding Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, DivX
Batch Render: no
DVD Authoring Software Included: yes
Other: 1024x768x16-Bit color or higher screen resolution required, optimized for CPU with SSE, SSE2, 3DNow!; CD or DVD burner for optical media export; compatible capture device for DV import, microphone for voice-overs

STRENGTHS

• Simple, intuitive and easy to use
• Excellent publishing feature
• "Magic" tools useful
• Music is royalty free

WEAKNESSES

• Not feature rich -- curious amateurs will outgrow it

SUMMARY
Although CyberLink's PowerDirector doesn't have a lot of features, it's an easy-to-use video editing program.

Contributing Editor Kyle Cassidy is a network engineer and co-author of Enterprise Internetworking and Security.

$70
CyberLink USA
46750 Fremont Blvd., Ste. 200
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 668-0118
www.gocyberlink.com

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